Mizugami/SessionFourteen

7th Day of Descending Wood, RY 769

Deadly Rose Lord has decided we're important and that it's time to connect himself with us. He barged into the Deliberative meeting today to invite us all to be his guests at the Carnival Faboloso. Apparently they're taking one of their very infrequent trips away from the Blessed Isle. Ah well, I might get some idea of what he's up to and the Carnival should be worth experiencing, at least.

I talked to J'hana after the meeting adjourned. She's agreed not to run for a Deliberative post next year. After that I talked to Esley and broached the subject. He hadn't been considering it but he puts a lot of faith in me and agreed to run.

13th Day of Descending Wood, RY 769

The Cheraki Navy has reached the Roseblack. Their offensive against the pirates should kick off by the end of the month. I just need to keep a lid on everything I can for another couple of months.

15th Day of Descending Wood, RY 769

Either someone wants us to disrupt the Institute or the Institute is finally tired of our disruptions. One of Judas' classmates was used to deliver the message that Preceptors Jade and Ivory are staying with Ragara Jasir this week to study Judas and the rest of us. The message was signed with an O. After some discussion, we agreed to play things quietly. I'm going to find out who's staying with Ragara Jasir this week without raising any suspicions.

Related to our previously suspect information on the Institute, I checked and discovered that Tepet Martelli is in town currently and staying with Ragara Sy Imon.

Well, it seems like option 2. Ranka just let me know that with some help, they removed an equis demon from Trema, Judas' classmate. With it under their command, they interrogated it. Ragara Tren summoned it and before using it to send the message via Trema, he used it on Margard Rikayt to look up our school records and files. Further, Tren is Preceptor Omen (explaining the O) and he's tried to kill us in the past. Preceptor Cimo is otherwise known as Cacophony at Dusk. Tren lives with Ragara Jasir and is part of his staff and they're both part of a group called the Ragara Chantry. According to the demon, Ragara Sy Imon heads this group.

16th Day of Descending Wood, RY 769

So much for the subtle approach. Judas really wants to help, so I've come up with some excuses for him to meet with Ragara Jasir in an official capacity. With any luck he'll be back soon.

Luck! Judas managed to obtain a copy of Jasir's schedule for the week. That should actually save me some time and effort.

19th Day of Descending Wood, RY 769

Imperial Magistrate Margard Crees is now investigating the Institute's attack on students within the Palace. Somehow I don't think he's going to find much. He's investigating at Margard Trevail's behest and doesn't seem like much of an investigator. If I had to guess, she wants an official investigation that finds nothing, so she can figure it out on her own and avenge the attack on Kazuki.

Success! Ragara Tacy and Ragara Delina are staying with Jasir this week. Delina is a Deliberator, Tacy's on her staff, and they're both sorcerers. With that and our other information, we decided to take it to Crow. She agreed with me that although this is an interesting story, we've got nothing resembling hard proof. Without that, there's no way we can act with any sort of safety.

It was decided that we'd contact Tren via Infallible Messenger. He agreed to meet us if he could choose the time and place. So tomorrow at noon we're meeting him at the Lookshy Embassy.

20th Day of Descending Wood, RY 769

J'hana is staying back at the Palace in case this is a ploy to lure us all away. Kazuki is going to be our local backup, hiding out in Judas' office in case this is a trap. Hopefully I'll be writing again soon.

21st Day of Descending Wood, RY 769

Tren sounded quite convincing. The Institute is an organ of House Ragara, run by Ragara Sy Imon and the other members of the Ragara Chantry. They take in half-bloods, educate and indoctrinate them, then send them to work for other members of the House. Fallows helps recruit for them. The Institute itself has been operating for a decade; the Ragara Chantry dates back much older. Tepet Martelli has been a Ragara spy since his time at the Heptagram. Tren says he wants out now because the Chantry have gone power mad. He says Sy Imon has brought a Raksha into the Institute and the members of the Chantry are making deals with it for more power.

In exchange for this information, Tren wants safe passage to Gem. Ranka is having papers drawn up for him and he'll be taking passage in the morning.

When we returned to the Palace, before we had a chance to talk to Crow, J'hana informed us that Ragara Takar visited her while we were away. He asked her about Anathema in the city and she told him there were likely several. I think it's likely that we'll soon see the Wyld Hunt in Cherak.

With that information, too, we went back to Crow. She found Tren's story convincing and agreed to act. Virtuous Cloud went with her to Ragara Jasir's to deal with the situation there. The rest of us were to deal with Ragara Sy Imon's estate.

I hate to say this, but I was relieved when Martelli and the others evinced Wyld taint. Everyone involved in the Institute that we were aware of, save for Silken Glass River, is dead or in custody. All of the Preceptors are dead. Evidence of the Raksha was incontrovertable and our actions are legally covered.

I am going to sleep before composing a letter to my parents about Tepet Martelli.

Dammit!!! Someone played us! Ragara Tren never existed. He never got on that boat and nobody knows anyone named Ragara Tren. Was it another Raksha dealing with a threat? Anathema?